Merely a dream? Or More?
by AmandaFaye
Summary: Waking up is a second chance. JS


Merely or More

AN Yes it is a stupid title. Own nothing, except the shared ability to vividly weirdly dream.

What an extradordinary dream! A sharp pang of sadness swept through Sarah as she recalled the last moments, the defeated king, the friends who never were.

But at least she didn't really have Karen and that brat- well, Toby had been kind of cute.

And at least she wasn't still fifteen! That was nine years past, thank goodness.

Smiling to herself, she went down to help her mother, Linda Williams, cook breakfast.

"Do you really have to go back to school so soon, Sarah?"

"Fraid so, mama," Sarah said as she set the table. "Anything good in the paper, Dad?"

"Why should there be?"

"I had the most unusual dream last night," Sarah announced.

"Should it have made the paper?" Robert asked. "Granted, I can't recall you ever remembering a dream until morning."

Ruffling his hair, Sarah laughed. "No, silly. But it was strange."

"Don't keep us in suspense, girl. Tell us," Linda encouraged as she poured juice.

"I was fifteen again, but you guys were divorced and dad had married a witch, well, not spelled that way. And she had a baby boy who was hoggle, no, horrible. He stole my things and cried all the time, and I had to babysit him too much."

"All in one dream?" Robert asked in amusement.

"Making up for lost time, I guess. Anyhow, one night, I was fed up and wished that the goblins would take Toby, the kid, away. Right now. So they did, but then an owl swooped in and turned into a --"

"Handsome prince?" her mother teased.

"Not ex-aact- ly. The goblin king. He -"

"Kissed you."

"Offered me my dreams in exchange for the baby."

"Sounds fair," Robert nodded.

"Whatever is your basis for comparison?" Sarah asked. "That's what he said whenever I said something was unfair. I refused, so he gave me thirteen hours to save Toby by reaching the castle in the middle of a maze. "

"I would not let you stay out that late when you were fifteen, I don't now," Robert scolded.

"Oh, he reordered time for me. "

"I'd like to meet him, sounds handy."

"I met a dwarf, Hogwart, Hoggle, and traded him a plastic bracelet for his guidance. It was going great, a piece of cake, until we hit the oubliette and I found out Hoggle was going to betray me, or said he was to Jareth."

"Jareth?"

"The king. Then he told me he just said that to throw him off, and I kissed him."

"The dwarf, not Jareth? Sarah, I raised you better than that," Linda sighed.

"Well, that landed us in the Bog of Eternal Stench," she ignored the raised brows and silenty mouthed echo.

"Once Hoggle, Didymus, Ludo and Ambrosius and I got out of there, "

"Who?"

"I picked up some other friends. Hoggle gave me a peach Jareth sent me, only it was drugged, and I went into a dream."

"In a dream? Sounds like that Chinese thing, I dreamed that I dreamed that I-" Robert began.

"Hush, dear."

"And I was in a masqued ball, looking for Jareth. He sang to me, and we danced, then I saw the clock, and left, crashed out."

"Leave a shoe?" Robert asked.

"No, I landed in a junk heap, where the others found me and we got the the castle. I faced Jareth. He walked on walls."

"Never should have bought the Spiderman dvd," Robert interuptted again.

"HUSH!"

"He said if I feared him, loved him and did as he said, he'd be my slave, but I told him he had no power over me, and woke up." The sadness returned to her eyes.

"Quite a night you had, dear," Linda smiled. "Maybe someday you can find your prince."

"I thought he was a king?" Robert asked.

Sarah finished poking at her breakfast. "I still need to pick up some things at the mall. Need anything, mama?"

"No, dear. Be careful."

The world seemed less than it had been as Sarah drove through the small town. Paler, less vibrant.

It was merely a silly dream. But she missed - him.

Nothing in the stores looked right to her. Lacking somehow. Giving up, she drove to the park, so like her dream park.

A shadow fell over her, and she looked up.

"Would your name be Sarah?"

"Jareth?"

"Jared. How did you know? For that matter, how did I know your name?" His grin was charming. "And furthermore, why do I have the _desire_ to offer you a diamond?"

"Maybe we met in a dream?" Sarah suggested, knowing how odd that sounded.

"Perhaps. Since we are not strangers, what are you up to for the rest of forever?"

Was this a second chance or a new beginning. Either way, "I think that's up to you to say."

Taking her hand, Jared pulled Sarah to her feet. His words were a breath against her face before he kissed her, "Now that is the right answer."


End file.
